30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 17 1-2 Children and the kingdom of God 06 Grow in grace and righteousness
📖 Luke 17:1-2
14Jun2020 - *Grow in grace and righteousness* - _Luke 17:1-2_ - Bible reading: _II Peter 3:18
_Luke 17:1-2 Then He said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! (2) It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones._
The first lesson that we learn from children and the kingdom of God is that as we focus our attention on children, we will internalise a culture of willing to be unnoticed, ignored and overlooked but be focussed on genuinely caring for the vulnerable.
The second lesson that we learn from children and the kingdom of God is the lesson of Trust.
The third lesson that we learn from children and the kingdom of God is to have a hunger for God’s word. _I Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,_
The fourth lesson that we can learn from children and the kingdom of God is the lesson of Growth, also from the same verse. Children grow. If a child is not growing in any facet of life, the parents are worried. Growth is integral to a child and so it has to be for each of us in His kingdom.
God is deeply concerned for us if we are not growing in Him. It is dangerous to come to a stage, where we begin to think ourselves mature enough, saturated with the things of God or having nothing newer to learn. If we are in this kind of a stupor, we must repent, for we must have an attitude to say, “Lord teach me lessons in life, so that I can continue to grow in You”. This is what we learn from children.
We need to ensure that we are growing both individually as well as corporately, as the body of Christ. What are some of the areas of growth that the word of God specifies for us?
We must continually grow in the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. _II Peter 3:18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen._
We usually define grace as unmerited favour, which is correct but the other side of grace is divine enablement. Picture a little child, with her small hand, gripped by the strong hand of her father, skipping along gleefully and chattering away. She has no fear, no anxiety but instead she is full joy and confidence. Where is she drawing her confidence from? Is it because she is strong? No. Her joy comes from the strength of her father. That is the understanding of divine enablement.
We need to be growing in divine enablement, day by day. As we grow older, physically, we tend to have more cares and worries. This is the time that we need to grow more and more in grace, divine enablement. *Are you growing in grace?*
Secondly, we must grow in His righteousness. _Psalm 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Job 17:9 Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger._
We must grow continuously in His righteousness. Life will keep throwing fresh challenges at us. The tendency will be to buckle under pressure and go along with the ways of the world or the ways of unrighteousness. We tell ourselves that we have fought enough of battles in life and we don’t have the stomach to take on another fight.
For us, as His people, every day is a new opportunity to understand His righteousness. It is not about taking on another challenge in life but about discovering a new dimension of His righteousness in our real-life experience.
Righteousness for us is not about our goodness but our righteousness is by faith in Him. We trust Him in our everyday circumstances of life and there He allows us to experience His righteousness.
We are therefore *growing in grace and righteousness* and growth in the kingdom of God is a lesson that we learn from children.
*Thought to ponder*
```Growth is a sign of life and it is frightening to consider that many of us have stopped living a long time ago.```